I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 755: The Princess Arrives, the Officials Reveal Their Real Plans

Princess Wannian's words revealed a deep trust, which made the ministers' momentum of condemnation stagnate.

This is the difficult side of monarchy.

Now the princess is acting as regent, exercising the power of the emperor. No matter how dissatisfied the other ministers are, they do not have any decision-making power. They can only try to influence the referee's decision through words and voice.

Although they knew that the princess would definitely favor Su Yao, they did not expect that a woman could speak so eloquently.

The princess directly named the establishment of military guards and the division of military power among the prefects, which was a good strategy to strengthen central control and resolve local separatist forces.

This is indeed difficult to refute.

It is well known that the prefect has great power.

As the highest official of a county, in addition to governing the people, promoting talented people, deciding lawsuits, and investigating corruption, he can also appoint and dismiss his subordinates at will, but he holds the power over personnel, finances, property, public security, and the procuratorial and judicial systems.

Therefore, local governors were regarded as high-ranking officials, and the head of a county was like the king of a country, which was not an exaggeration at all.

In the Han Dynasty, once an official entered the realm of a prefect, he could become a duke or minister. When the three dukes or nine ministers were dismissed from office, many of them became prefects, which shows how powerful they were.

After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the central government delegated to local governors the power to recruit soldiers for self-defense. All of a sudden, the military power that originally belonged to only a few governors of border counties became widespread across the country, and local separatist forces became inevitable.

Before, the censors criticized Su Yao for abolishing the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and they could still use various ancestral systems and allusions and cases like Wang Mang to make their point. But now, Su Yao was promoting this so-called military guard system, and the censors could not find any good weaknesses for it.

Therefore, they were originally focusing on the fact that Su Yao had issued an order on his own without consulting the court on such an important matter of national affairs, which was against the etiquette and law and not in accordance with the way of a minister.

However, judging from the princess's attitude, it would be very difficult to overthrow or even influence Su Yao by this means.

The censors were silent. Seeing this scene, Sikong Zhongfu gritted his teeth and became anxious and angry. He was considering whether to put this matter aside for the time being and refocus his attention on the issue of denouncing the abolition of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, when the Grand Marshal Zhao Qian stood up.

"Your Highness, I think the general's decision to set up a military guard to share the power of the governor may not be a bad one, but I am afraid it will cause endless troubles!"

Taiwei Zhao Qian's voice was steady and powerful, and his appearance suddenly brightened the eyes of ministers including Zhong Fu.

The Grand Commandant was the head of the Three Dukes, with a rank of Wanshi. He was the highest military officer in the country. In addition to evaluating the achievements of military officers across the country and using them as a basis for promotion and demotion, he was also the highest military adviser to the emperor.

That's right, consultant.

The Taiwei had no military command authority, which was an overlapping and different point between the functions of the Taiwei and the general.

Therefore, at this time, Taiwei Zhao Qian can be said to be the one with the most say in Su Yao's military reform.

Zhao Qian glanced at the tablet in his hand, then stroked his slightly graying beard. Amid the astonished and expectant gazes of the crowd, he said clearly:
"I have observed the reforms of the generals, who have appointed lieutenants and colonels to lead local troops, recruit soldiers for training, build forts and set up towns. Although they have divided the power of the governors and separated the military and the political, they are nothing more than a practice of resuming the duties of the commanders of the counties and states in the past."

"When Emperor Taizu revived the Han Dynasty, he considered that the military power in the hands of the commanderies of the prefectures and states was too great, which could easily lead to the disaster of separatism. Therefore, he abolished this position, dismissed the troops of the whole country, and returned the military power to the governors. Only then did he have peace for 200 years."

"Now the general has set up another military guard, which is nothing more than restoring the title of Lieutenant General and Colonel Commandant to their original status. Isn't this contrary to the original intention of Emperor Taizu?"

Zhao Qian's words were so powerful that the court suddenly fell silent.

At this point, not only Princess Wannian was speechless, but all the other ministers also fell into deep thought.

Zhong Fu laughed in his heart, secretly praising the general for being worthy of his reputation and for saying something meaningful.

Then, he stood up and pursued the victory:

"What the commander said is absolutely right!"

"In my opinion, the general's move is just to use his confidants to seize power from the governor, plot evil, and gain power for himself, rather than sincerely for the revival of the Han Dynasty." Zhong Fu glanced at the ministers sharply and continued:
"Have you ever thought, Princess, that General Su Yao's move is actually to take over the local military power for himself. If he has other intentions in the future, won't these local troops become his private soldiers?"

"If he gives an order and the troops in these places respond, how will the imperial court respond? Wouldn't the country of the Han Dynasty fall into his hands?"

"Whether this big man's surname is Liu or Su, isn't it all up to him?"

Zhong Fu's words exploded in the court like thunder, instantly freezing the already tense atmosphere.

Although soon after, Lu Zhi saw that something was not right, he finally stopped being silent and stood up to help explain, saying that the military guards were different from the captains, and that the general was currently discussing the military guard law with everyone, and that in the future a new system would be implemented, with soldiers not having private generals, and generals not having private soldiers.

However, after Zhong Fu's public declaration of war, the situation in the court had instantly become boiling, and it could not be resolved with just a few words.

Unlike those censors who reported matters based on hearsay, the three highest officials openly accused the general of having ulterior motives. This was a very serious accusation and it was a true revelation.

The ministers of the opposition followed suit and made a fuss, saying that even if the soldiers and the commander were separated, the person commanding the troops would still be General Su Yao or his confidant.

There is no difference.

This scene made Princess Wannian so angry that her face turned blue and she bit her lower lip tightly. She didn't expect that this old minister, who clearly knew that Su Yao was her fiancé, would dare to accuse her in public like this.

No one knows Su Yao better than herself.

If it weren't for Su Yao, he would have died in the palace long ago. If it weren't for Su Yao, his brother would have been killed by Dong Zhuo.

No one knows how sad and painful she was when she learned the news of Dong Zhuo's death and Liu Xie's disappearance in Chang'an.

However, who would have thought that her younger brother would actually come back to life. Listening to her brother's own account of the process, Princess Wannian felt that it was as bizarre as those legends.

Such a man, if he is not sent by God to save them, then he must be someone who takes advantage of his own destiny.

How could such a man be blamed by these despicable people?

Listening to the noisy sounds in the court, Princess Wannian felt her head buzzing.

If Liu Xie and Su Yao had not asked her to keep the secret and not tell the truth, she would have confessed everything right now and put the gossiper in jail and severely punish him!

However, Princess Wannian, who was unable to tell the truth, had no powerful words to refute the court officials' statements. In the end, she could only angrily dismiss the court amid a stream of spitting.

The factional struggle in the court, or the condemnation specifically targeting Su Yao, has entered a white-hot stage.

At the same time, as the conflicts in the court intensified, another force in the opposition capital also began to respond synchronously.

"Oh, my great general, how can you still sit still?"

In the palace, the short soldier running towards him was the former Han emperor Liu Xie.

After the princess finished her court session, he ran all the way to the garden, panting, and saw Su Yao lying happily on a novel lounge chair with his eyes closed.

Around him, beauties like Hong'er, Xiaochun and Nana surrounded him. Some of them were putting fruit snacks into his mouth, while others were massaging his shoulders and legs.

This scene made Liu Xie very anxious.

He had faked his own death and abdicated, thinking that he could restore peace to the world as soon as possible, but he had never expected that the Marquis of Guanjun would cause such a big fuss.

Doesn’t he know what’s going on outside?
(End of this chapter)